A week of Activity

Hello lovely people! long time no see!

Well really not that long but people have been requesting i update my blog and what better time to do it then now! i have had a full on week this week and have been doing lots of different things! there is much to tell and i fear i've probly forgetton some of it! but bear with me!

Let's start at the beginning of the week! this week i only had 2 days of classes!!! hahah was super stoked! classes are good but at times i freak out if i don't know what i'm suppose to be doing! anyways i have now obtained the email addresses of all the teachers i will be working with so i can email them and see what the go is! the key to teaching is being prepared! preperation preperation preperation! i'm sure some of you may all ready know that! i may have mentioned it before but i prefer older classes! simply because the younger classes have lower level english and it's a mish trying to communicate in english without speaking spanish! But i have to say i love the younger classes enthusiasm! they're so excited all the time (maybe not about learning) but at least they have no fear in asking questions and giving things a go! that i love! the older classes understand everything alot better but don't want to talk so it's like Come on guys!!!!!! get excited would ya! XD

This week in one class we did a listening excercise and the kids had to fill in the missing words to a song! cry me a river by justin timberlake. Of course i knew it and half the girls did but otherwise it was fairly unfamiliar XD so this week i am going to do a similar exercise but with a nz song! so should be really fun! :D

Moving on! on Wednesday was Columbus day! the day that Christopher Columbus arrived in America! But here in Spain it is celebrated as Dia de Hispanidad! and thus everyone gets a day off! so i was stoked with that! So wednes day night i went out with my flatmate Juan and a couple of his friends and we drove around in a car to park some random place on the other side of Murcia and we looked for a certain bar place that was suppose to be near the Plaza de Toros and we finally found it so we got hot drinks and i have to say hot chocolate is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay different here! Unlike the NZ version of hot chocolate the spanish version actually adheres to it's name! Literally just Hot Chocolate! XD lovely thick melted chocolate! but thankfully it comes in a smaller cup cause i don't think i could handle a big mug full XD then after that we all went in searc of 'Billar' or Pool! we found 1 place but it was busy and by this time is was getting late so we decided to head back to the car! In all honesty i think it might have been quicker to walk back to our flat! because we got hopelessly lost, which seems to be a normal thing for me lately >.<

When we got back to the flat, a friend of our flatmate Mariavi had broken down outside, seemed like a flat battery! i was just like hang! i'm so glad i don't have to worry about that! XD

Ok so Thursday! Well on thursday i had another orientation! this time it was just for language assistants in Murcia! you know there are far more of us then i ever expected! in Murcia alone there has to be at least 50+ Anyways this time i went with Maria! So that was good! they talked alot about things i already know so it was long winded! But on our break we joined up with a bunch of other teachers and another language assistant and went for drinks and toast! was sooooooooo nice! hahaha even toast is different here! We had it with like blended tomato paste then you cover it with oil and salt! amazing!

I think this might be a good point to talk about english here in Murcia! Ok so by no means do alot of people speak it but it's far more spoken then spanish is in New Zealand! English is a cumpolsory subject for like 4 years! so most peoeple will be able to say a few things and help you out! they run at my school and alot of others bilingual programs! which is what i'm involved in! so all their classes are given by teachers who speak english to them! and i'm like flip! no wonder the english level is so much better then spanish in NZ! Even after my studies at uni my spanish was soooooo lacking!

Ok moving on! ready for some pictures? :D thought i'd put in some pictures of typical food here! but by no means is this anywhere near all they have here! just a snipet

 A Bocadillo! Spanish style sandwich

 Chorizo - Here pronounced Choritho XD bet you've never seen it like this before? Oooooh it's so tasty!

 Here in Murcia they are know for their Jamon - Ham

 I think i might have talked about this already but this is Ensalada Murciana! Murcian Salad! Other then the boiled eggs omgosh i love it! :D

 Another one of my favourites! These are pasteles de carne! Meat pies! but not like any meat pie from NZ! hahaha

 Pickled herring! And here they have everything with lemons which is fine by me! love it!

Pickled Olives! yum! So it would seem the spanish are almost fearful of spicy food! some1 told me to be careful because something i was about to eat was spicy but it wasn't hardly spicy at all XD but they love their salty food! and i'm just like Yus! :D

No prize for guessing what these are! or why they are here! hahah XD Chips! everyone keeps telling me not to say Papas! they are Patatas Fritas! >.< but you'd eat these with lemon juice, olives, herrings etc

Tortilla de Patatas - Litterally just a potato omlet kinda thing!

omgosh after all that i'm hungry!!!!! XD

Where were we? Ok moving on to Friday! Fridays i get off because all my classes have been scheduled for mon-thurs! Stoked! :D anyways i went out and joined a bunch of the teachers after school for a drink (don't worry i don't drink alcohol) and a bite to eat! Was really cool! enjoyed just sitting there chatting! not that i understood alot >.< ok so i'm warming up to the accent but there's still alot that i plain don't know which can make things hard! if some1 is talking to me it's not too bad i can understand them! in groups it's alot harder following the conversation! i can pick up the general gist of what's happening like they'll be talking about a movie or something but i'm really bad at picking out the subject! like what is the movie they're talking about! but i'm learning! little by little!

I'm afriad the pics are rather limited this entry! i wish i had taken my camera with me everywhere but alas i didn't XD Last nights, being saturday i meet up with a friend to go to church! hahaha i think we finally arrived over an hour later, after getting well lost some1 came to pick us up in the end! Thank goodness i didn't try getting there by myself! Church was really cool! i'm gutted we missed out on the singing tho >.<

Anyways that's about it for this week! Hope you are all doing well! Love to hear from you all!

P.S

Good job All Blacks! :D

1 Week Anniversary

Heeeeeeey All!

Well as the title suggests today marks my 1st week anniversary here in Murcia! so what better way to celebrate then to update this blog and let you know a bit about what has happened! Warning: i have a feeling this is going to be a long entry >.<

Let's start with school shell we? Well i have now meet all my classes! the school system is a little different here so at times i'm confused! they have what's called ESO which is compulsory secondary school which i think is from 12-15 and then Bachillerato which is 16-18 but we teach both at Miguel Espinosa! The school runs a bilingual programme so 2 classes from each year level have to have all there classes in both english and spanish so about have the teachers there have some degree of english! I'm blessed to be at Miguel Espinosa! it's by no means a wealthy or modern school but the teachers are all very kind and friendly! OMgosh i don't think anything could have prepared me for spanish kids tho! Maybe it's just been a while since i've been in school but they all seem very loud and noisy! i suppose they're just super excited about learning! XD

Some of my classes prepared me beautiful cards welcome me to Spain and Murcia! it was very nice surprise and they made me feel very welcome! I hate to be biast but i have to say my favourite class is 2nd Bach (bachillerato) which is my last class on thursdays! They are the oldest class and obviously are the best behaved! Also they are alot closer to my own age and are very interested in what i have to say! Because you don't usually eat lunch until after school here and our class finished after 3 a couple students and the teacher brought some beautiful spanish food to eat! i have to say, other then the eggs i am reaaaaaaally loving spanish food! it's so delicious! i just wish i knew what half of the stuff was called >.< A typical food here is Murcian salad which is tuna, boiled eggs, olives and canned tomatoes! really nice and they are dessert specialists here! lol :D

Moving on! at school on thrusday morning we had a english department meeting! and as english is compulsary at a highschool of 450 students there are alot more english teachers then say spanish teachers in a NZ highschool! so i thought it was pretty crazy when 4 were speaking at once! when that happens in a group everything just turns to noise to me! that's one of the hardest parts of a new langauge! i was talking to some1 who has been learning english for 20 years and they say they still don't understand what's going on when more then 1 person is talking.

But then! if i thought that was bad yesterday (friday) we had a party for all the new teachers at Miguel Espinosa! i had completely forgotten and looked like such a retard when i got a text from Maria asking me where i was?! i felt soooo bad but i quickly got up and promptly rushed to school to join the party! there was alot of nice food there and was very cool to meet people! but like i say i barely understood anything! i was like WHAT is going on! o.O

Another very exciting part of my week was applying for my NIE which is a foreigner identification number! because the visa that i spent so much effort getting is only valid for 60 days >.< but anyways a girl called Irene from my school drove me to the office for foriegners and helped me out! i was soooooo glad she was there to explain things to me because it was sooo complicated and stressful! i had to go see sooooo many people and wait in lines and talk with people at different desks! Then i got my NIE but had to also apply for a TIE which is a special card for foreigners, so we were just about to do that and had everything ready when the guy told us my passport photos were too big! and i was like really? so we raced around to some random shop to get some new ones because the guy told us to hurry! we raced back and the guy gave us a number to meet with another person and said we were the last people to be processed so that was incredibly lucky! long story short i got my NIE and processed everything for my TIE which i will need to return in 40 days to pick up!

Yesterday i went to open a bank account! which by the way is NOT easy! i wonder if it's just as difficult for foreigners in NZ? anyways i finally got that open with my passport, my NIE and my letter from the ministry of education of Spain! so i have a card coming soon and alo internet access! or at least i hope so XD but there is a CajaMurcia (my new back) just around the corner! and i have now sent all my details to the ministry to recieve my pay! let's hope it comes a lot earlier then planned! :D

That's about it for now! I went out with my friend Marta again around Murcia, visited an art store and bought a sketch book! ^^ also visited yet another manga store! stoked! lol :D Here are a couple pictures for you all!

 Corte Ingles! this is like their main department store here! none of the shops here are the same except like BK and no1 can believe i've never heard of any of there shops lol

 Swing bridge to walk over the Segura River

 The 'Old Bridge' lol what a name! XD

 Marta and I! gosh don't we look happy! >.<

 A small market in Murcia

 Manga Store

 Do you see that Green! :D

A statue in the Plaza de Flores - the flower square! for a rather dry place i have seen some very impressive flowers for sale!



A Career in Teaching

Heeeeeeeeeeey all! I know how much you desperately await my blog updates so here is another one for ya’ll! And the great news is that it is coming to you from my own internet! Wooooooooooo! Everything has been setup! It’s a great comfort just knowing that I can contact friends and family from back home! I do miss you all!

First of all! I’m going to have to apologize that there will be no photos in this blog entry! I’m gona run out of things to take pics of really quickly! Hahaha I’m sure I can find stuff! I’ll try make this entry quick! It’s 11pm and I’m tired!

Ok a couple things to write to you about! Firstly let’s talk about the time here and my general life from now on! It seems here that everything is done later! I.e. you get up late, you eat late and you go to bed late! Hahaha which suits me pretty good really! Hard to adjust to at first but I understand the reasoning behind it all! Here it’s still light out late into the night so anything before 9pm they call the afternoon here! I get up and eat breakfast at around 9 then lunch is around 2-4pm and then dinner around 9-10 and bed should be around 12-1 but lately I go early cause I’m tired!

Here is the time rule for people in NZ! Take your time and add 1 hour! That’s where I am but the other end of the day! For example in NZ it is 8pm, so add 1 hour = 9pm and that’s where I am but the other end of the day so 9am! Easy right? But it can be super annoying being at opposite times of the day cause it’s hard to talk!

Anyways I want to back track a little to my journey from Madrid to Murcia which I forgot to tell you about which were the windmills I saw! They were incredible! Literally hundreds of windmills spread out across the country side and we drove right down the middle of them all! They were so awesome! I wish I were sitting on a window seat so I could have taken some pics for you all! Suppose it’s not that exciting but there were soooooooo many! :D

So far Murcia is a great city! I like it a lot and am slowly getting to know it! I think I’ve done more walking in the last week around Murcia than ever before! You’d be proud of me! Although every day I am sooooooo worn out!

Murcia is a rather hot place! And now I understand why they all tell me it’s a desert! Lol so yesterday I went out at 5pm (afternoon) and it was still 31C and then last night just before I went to sleep it was 27C in my room! So the heat can be fairly intense here! Our classes at school swelter without air conditioning! One lady told me today that just last week they had 38C so I’m relieved I’ve come just in time for autumn! ^^ another thing that has been rather strange for me is the smell around town! At times it smells like you’re walking past an open sewer line! I think it must be the heat and it’s like woah! That was yuk! XD

Ok so the main part of this entry is to tell you a little bit about my school! So a 20 min walk will put me right at Miguel Espinosa! My new school! I have about 9 different classes which is about 225+ students so hang if I can remember all the names and that’s with about 8 different teachers! I had my first day yesterday and I am teaching kids between 12-15 and their knowledge of English in some cases is veeeery little! I’ve only has 4 of my 8 classes so I haven’t meet everyone yet! So far I’ve been giving the slide show presentation that I prepared and answering questions! The students are very excited and extremely noisy! Hahhaha but they are all very happy to have me! Today when I came to a class they all applauded me which was very cool! And had written me welcome cards! :’D

Most of their questions are along the lines of do you like Spain? Do you like Murcia? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you like soccer? Do I support Real Madrid? Do you speak Spanish? Lol etc.!

I do prefer the older classes because they are more controlled and they speak English better! I have to tell all the students that I don’t know a word of Spanish! And sometimes it’s really hard because they’ll yell out things in Spanish and I’ll understand perfectly fine but have to pretend like I don’t! and I have to be careful not to say anything is Spanish which is pretty easy to do when everything else is in Spanish! XD

The other exciting news is I meet up with my friend from Spain Marta! It was really cool catching up! Hahaha maybe it’s just me but all the girls I know here honestly speak at the speed of light! But I get the gist of the overall conversation, still doing my best to pick up that Murcian accent! >.< we found a store that had a piano in it and I was so excited but then there was a sign that said do not touch and I was like stuuuuuuuuuuuuupid! But I shell go commandeer the one at my school sometime! :D some1 said something bout me playing Christmas carols and I was like hmmmmm yea I dunno, you know who I feel bout Christmas carols! Hahahha jokes! You couldn’t keep me away if you tried! :D

The other great thing you’ll be excited to know if I have found the Manga shop here in Murcia! Aaaaaaaaaaah it was awesome! Lots of Spanish manga! I think it’s a lot more known here and popular then NZ! Quite a few of my students like it which is cool!

Finally to cap it all off I found a store that sells salt and vinegar chips! My happiness level went up bout about 10! Was really sad with the range of chips they have in Spain! Not a strong point but at least now I’ll have salt and vinegar chips to remind me of home! Ooooooooh and another thing is the Fanta orange here looks waaaaaaaaay more like actual orange juice then fluorescent orange liquid! Also they have Fanta lemon which is my favourite!

Still have a terrible cough which isn’t going away! Appreciate your prayers! :D

Beginnings in Murthia

Heeeeeeey everyone! Time for another update! Gosh it’s hard to think what has happened since last I updated the blog! Seems like sooo much has been happening to fast it could have been months since I’ve been away! Or at least it feels quite a while! Garuntee I’ll get to the end of my stay and be like where the heck has all the time gone?! Anyways I am now in my home to be for the next 9 months Murcia! And no the title is not spelt wrong! Eeeeeeeveryone here says it with a lisp so it’s more like Murthia!

Let’s recap a little! So before I came to Murcia I had my orientation at the hotel convention in Madrid! A super big hotel along with about 100+ other language assistants! We had shared rooms and my 2 roomies were cool! One from the UK and another who was French who spoke perfect Spanish and not a word of English! Anyways made a few friends there from around the place! Hahaha so they had the representatives form each country ie embassies come to talk so there was just bout every embassy under the sun except NZ >.< and during the course I didn’t meet anyone from NZ! Anyways what else? Ooooooh the food they feed us was incredible! It was like 3 course meal at every meal! I was like how am I suppose to eat so much! I think it must be a European thing to feed people so much! At least that’s coherent with my European grandparents! But it did my heart wonders to see a good piece of steak! :D

It sounds like things are going to be hard setting up things like bank accounts etc and even harder seeing as I’m not from the EU! I have to apply for all these different things! It does my head in a bit =( the accent here is veeeeeeery different to mexico! It’s actually like they’re speaking another language! Sure a Mexican would have no problem but I’m not fluent in Spanish so it’s more then just the accent but I am learning! Poco a poco they say! Little by little!

Anyways fast forward! Arrived in Murcia yesterday after a 6 hour bus trip! Was a little scared not knowing what awaited me but I really didn’t have any reason to be afraid! Maria the woman from my school in charge of me came to pick me up! She’s such a kind friendly person! She sent me a picture a little while ago so I’d know what she looked liked but looked a lot younger in person! Anyways she took me to my flat which is really good! It’s on the 3^rd flight and omgosh you cannot believe how relieved I was when I saw the elevator! Aaaaaaaah thank you God! :D the flat is very central to the main city and to my school which is good! Later Maria and I went for a walk around! Everyone keeps saying Murcia is such an ugly city or nothing special and I’m just like it’s incredible! Nothing I’ve ever seen before! We also went to a supermarket and I bought the necessaries!

Today my flatmate Juan and I went for another walk around Murcia! Aaaaaah the food here is amazing! I’m gona come home fat! :D had my first tapas yesterday! And today I had some pastry thing filled with Nuta which is like whisked egg whites and sugar! But soooooooo sweet! They have pastelerias which are shops just for pastries! I try exaplain what a bakery is to people here but it’s just so different! XD

I haven’t got internet yet! Juan is letting me use his satellite internet for the time being! Hope to get it sorted soon! He’s really kind which makes the world of difference.

Anyways 2moro I start my classes! Should be fun! I’m super nervous but I’m sure it will go well! Just got to ask and answer lots of questions! Pray all goes well for me and I will update you when I can! In the meantime I leave you with a couple of photos from Beautiful Murcia!

 The cathedral de Murcia! we went in side but couldn´t take photos it was a bit sureal

 There i ammmmmmmm! wooooooooo proof guys! ;D

 Incredible architect! how can you say it´s not very impressive¿ lol

 The bull fighting stadium! my flatmate says there should be some matches sometime!

EL puente viejo - the old bridge XD